Solenoids produce strong magnetic fields which are difficult to contain, so detection and characterization of those fields can provide information regarding the location and activity of electronic circuits containing solenoids. Successful use of linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) magnetic beamforming to image an unknown configured current source depends on how well the measurement model represents the real current source that generated the observed magnetic field. For example, if the current source is a solenoid whose axis is oriented toward a measurement plane of a magnetometer array, then the magnetic flux lines will cut perpendicularly through the measurement plane along the axis and will be densest around the axis. A dipole current model cannot represent this observed field. Thus, while magnetic beamforming magnetometer arrays and data processing algorithms exist for imaging biomagnetic activity within the brain, these technologies include mathematical models for dipole current sources which are inappropriate for imaging the solenoid magnetic field generators found in electronic circuits.
This background discussion is intended to provide information related to the present invention which is not necessarily prior art.